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Thursday, 12 December 2013

With the Test series coming up, the Indians are trying their best to not let the 2-0 defeat in the ODIs bog them down. After MS Dhoni, it was Ishant Sharma who stressed on the ‘positives’ the team has drawn from the series after the third ODI was washed out. (Read: Report: South Africa vs India, 3rd ODI - INDIA Tour SA)

The lanky pacer who returned to form with figures of 10-1-40-4 in Centurion, said the gulf between India and South Africa is not as wide as the margin of the series result suggests.

"Everyone is an international player in both the teams and it's all in the mind,” Ishant said. “If you can control your thought process, and you are confident in your mind and you know what you have to do, then I don't think it is such a big loss.

"We lost the series yes, but we have some positives to take from it as well. And we will be utilising them in the Test series.”

En route his four wickets, Ishant became the 16th Indian bowler to take 100 ODI wickets. He got there in his 70th ODI, which makes him the fifth fastest to the mark after Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and Javagal Srinath. Ishant was particularly potent in the first 10 overs, as he got rid of Henry Davids and JP Duminy in the seventh over.

The pacer said the bounce off the track helped him put the new ball to good use. "Initially there was bounce in the wicket and then it got a bit slow.”

Further explaining his bowling plans, Ishant said, "We need to use the variations on these kind of wickets because the pitch was a bit dry. The wind blows from different directions and the captain tends to rotate his bowlers. Each of us is a different bowler and we are given a chance to perform, which is a good thing."

Pointing out the gradual improvement in India’s bowling performance in the series, Ishant said, "Everyone looks at how many matches we have played, but if you can see the average age, we are young in that respect as a bowling unit. Everyone is learning. We make mistakes, and we learn, trying to keep things simple. It becomes easier then